Farmers belonging to the Awayan Libmanan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (Alarbo) Inc. of Libmanan, Camarines Sur will no longer need to rent equipment and employ manual labor during harvest after the Department of Agrarian Reform-5 (DAR-Bicol) turned over PHP1.5 million worth of farm machinery.

In an interview on Monday, DAR-Camarines Sur program officer Carlo Palaypayon said 84 Alarbo members received a 35-horsepower combine harvester with trailer worth PHP1.24 million and a compact rice mill with polisher worth PHP299,500 last week.

“The production cost will be reduced since before, they needed to rent this kind of machinery. Now they will have additional income since they can let the equipment be rented to other farmers’ groups,” Palaypayon said.

Alarbo will receive one cavan of palay for every 10 cavans harvested and PHP100,000 worth of farming inputs trading to jumpstart its entrepreneurial venture.

Palaypayon said through the Major Crop-based Block Farming Productivity Enhancement Project (MCBFPEP) under the Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Enhancement Program, DAR-Camarines Sur aims to provide farmers with essential tools and technologies to help them adapt to various environmental conditions and improve crop yields.

Palaypayon added that for an organization to be considered a recipient of MCBFPEP, it should have at least 50 agrarian reform beneficiaries.

The major crop of the organization should have a minimum land area of 30 hectares situated within an agrarian reform community and the major crop of the organization should be either rice or corn. (PNA)